Residual life estimation of healthy and cracked composite beam using experimental and numerical modal analysis methods

Preventive maintenance is beneficial to minimize unexpected breakdowns in industries with continuous production. Composite structures are used for naval applications like ship hulls and marine propellers. In most of the industries, composite structural health analysis using experimental and numerical model are available for damage detection and estimate the residual life of composite beams. The present work is focusses on identification of damage and estimate residual life of composite healthy and cracked beams. Free vibrational analysis is carried out on composite beam made of Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) with a different crack orientation. A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectrum analyzer associated with engineering data management (EDM) software utilized for experimental analysis to detect presence of damage in cracked composite beam. Finite element method (FEM) software called Analysis of composite pre/post (ACP) available in ANSYS R3 is used to compare the natural frequency results of healthy composite beam with cracked composite beam with different ply orientations. For validation of numerical modal evaluation, the consequences acquired from ANSYS R3 Finite element analysis (FEA) software are in comparison with experimental results received by impact hammer method. The fatigue life of a damaged composite beam is estimated the use of “Hwang and Han’s” fatigue life equation